1. The Challenge
To provide a flexible, robust,
roaming communication
solution for staff at six
nurseries operated by the City
of Lausanne that has good
integration with the school’s
existing VoIP platform.
The Solution
Polycom’s DECT wireless
telephony solution based on the
KIRK Wireless Server 600v3
with multiple wireless handsets
at each nursery school location.
The Results
Increased mobility has improved
employee flexibility and overall
efficiency. It also impacts on
health and safety considerations
by allowing better control and
communication in emergency
situations from anywhere
on site.
A DECT wireless telephony solution from Polycom is
supporting staff in their highly mobile jobs by enabling roaming
communication that improves efficiency and maintains safety.
Children being children means they are always on the move, always
demanding attention and always needing supervision. For staff at any
school, let alone under-five year olds at nursery school, keeping control
while maintaining communication with the grown-up world is critical.
For the city-run nursery schools in Lausanne, Switzerland, the problem
is multiplied by six – this being the number of nursery schools within its
authority. Typically, carers within these schools are always on the go –
escorting children from the classrooms to the playground, supervising
outdoor activities and moving between buildings. During a working day, if
someone needs to get in touch with them, they have to be found within the
school grounds and taken to the nearest telephone.
“Obviously this scenario isn’t ideal,” admits City of Lausanne Telecoms
Administrator, Philippe Blasutto. “We have a centralised Cisco CallManager
VoIP platform system to meet our call processing requirements. This is fine
for managing calls throughout all our sites around the city, but doesn’t, in
itself, deliver the roaming capability we so desperately needed. As a result,
we were looking for a communication solution that would build on our
existing VoIP platform. One that would give nursery school staff the ability
to watch the children indoors or outdoors while still being available for
phone calls from parents, outside authorities or other members of staff.”
Having previously installed an earlier version of a KIRK base station,
the City of Lausanne knew the benefits of a mobile telephony solution.
However, there were options available – the main contender being a WiFi
solution. After a careful review of the features and functionality of both
roaming telephony solutions, Philippe Blasutto learnt that the DECT-over-
IP solution delivered more robust roaming capabilities within the school
environment so decided to implement the KIRK 600v3 solution.
“We are very happy with our choice and the
subsequent operations of the KIRK 600v3 solution
throughout our locations.”
Polycom solution delivers lesson
in roaming communication for
Lausanne nursery schools

2. The KIRK 600v3 solution is certified to operate with the
existing VoIP platform. Built on the international DECT
standard (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications)
the KIRK 600v3 solution works with most enterprise
communication systems through either an analogue, T1 or IP
interface. The modular nature of the Polycom system allows
users to expand coverage, voice traffic and number of users
easily as needed while protecting the initial investment.
The KIRK 600v3 solution delivers:
• Exceptional voice quality
• Robust security based on DECT standard
• Support for repeaters to easily expand the radio coverage
area
• Seamless handover between base stations and repeaters to
assure uninterrupted calls
• Automatic login of the handsets between installations for
site-to-site roaming
• Text messaging and application integration for improved
productivity
Consequently Philippe Blasutto installed a KIRK 600v3
solution that would connect six nursery schools and integrate
over IP connection with the existing VoIP platform.
“The KIRK 600v3 solution not only gives us better coverage
through all the thick walls and obstructions in place at many
of our nursery schools,” continues Philippe Blasutto, “but
also gives us a greater user population as well as the ability
to scale up the coverage with repeaters located around the
sites.”
The nursery school project capitalised on the flexibility of this
new Polycom solution by adopting a mix of single and
multi-cell installations with a number of repeaters used on
each site. A single-cell nursery school would nevertheless
still have the ability to connect up to 35 cordless roaming
handsets. Multi-cell locations, with two or more KIRK servers
on site, would benefit from a much larger user-base – up to a
maximum of 1500 handsets – more than enough for even the
largest nursery school.
One of the schools, the ‘Centre de vie Enfantine de la Cité’, is
housed in historic old buildings in the ‘old town’ of Lausanne.
With a population of 68 children plus 16 carers and two
administrators, this nursery school represents a typical single-
cell location with one KIRK 600v3 server and two repeaters to
improve geographical coverage across the 700 m² site.
“Because these systems are so modular
and flexible, we will have no hesitation
in upgrading and adding to them as and
when requirements change.”
Since its installation in early 2008, the new KIRK 600v3
roaming telephony solution has paid dividends to the city
authority and users alike in terms of time saved having to
answer calls, improved efficiency leading to greater control of
the children and their subsequent improved safety.
Madame Simone Raeber, a carer at the ‘Centre de Vie
Enfantine de la Cite’, was enthusiastic in her praise of the new
system: “With the new roaming handsets, we do not have to
make a choice between being tied to the school buildings
or to the children outside. We can walk everywhere, looking
after the children, feeling safe in the knowledge that we have
instant communication with the outside world clipped to our
belts. It’s a great feeling to be in control like this.”
Future plans
Part of the City of Lausanne implementation was rolling out
the Polycom solution to a couple of water works at St Sulpice
and Lutry operated by the city. At these locations, water works
employees would benefit from the same robust roaming
capabilities of the system but mainly for reasons of mobility
and efficiency/productivity rather than for any safety issues.
These installations were necessarily larger than the nursery
school solutions due to the larger geographical areas of the
water works. Consequently St Sulpice works had four KIRK
600v3 servers and seven repeaters installed. The Lutry site
has eight KIRK 600v3 servers and six repeaters.
After these two locations were up and running and delivering
robust roaming benefits to the employees, a further City of
Lausanne institution was subsequently added – bringing the
total of KIRK 600v3 sites to date for the City of Lausanne to
nine.
Rev. 08/08
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